A short note recalls the history of the Bernardine monastery in Zasław, as well as the question of the Zasław estate passing to Teofila, wife of Józef Lubomirski, and then into the hands of Paweł Sanguszko. Mention is also made of visits to this place by Stanisław August (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1881, Series 3, T:11, p. 66, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text

Church and monastery of the Bernardine Fathers in Zasław Wołyński.

Zaslavl, the ancient seat of the famous Zaslavl dukes, is situated on the River Moryn, in today's Volyn province. Stryjkowski mentions it as early as 1396; however, there are more reliable historical references to this castle only in the second half of the 15th century, and it is probably from that time that he dates the construction of a fortress here, which no longer exists today. In addition to Tartar raids in 1491 and 1684, Zaslavl was plundered in 1648 during an uprising in the Ukraine by Cossacks, who slaughtered all the Jews, demolished the churches and turned the synagogue into a stable.

When Aleksander, the last of the Zasławski dukes, died without an heir in 1673, the estate passed to his sister Teofila, the wife of Józef Lubomirski, from where it was given as dowry to Paweł Sanguszko, Marshal of Lithuania, and has remained in the hands of his descendants. In more recent times, King Stanislaus Augustus visited the monastery twice: once in 1781, on his return from Kamieniec, and then in 1787, on his way to Kaniów - magnificently received by Prince Janusz Sanguszko, Warden of the Crown. The Bernardine monastery shown in our picture was founded in 1603 by Prince Janusz of Ostrogski, who also built the church of St Michael the Archangel for them. Both these buildings have survived to the present day.